Tom Hanks, in full Thomas J. Hanks (born July 9, 1956, Concord, California, U.S.) American film actor whose cheerful everyman persona made him a natural for starring roles in many popular films. In the 1990s he expanded his comedic repertoire and began portraying lead characters in dramas.

Hanks gained notice for his comic abilities as a costar of the television series Bosom Buddies (1980–82). His work in the hit film Splash (1984) earned him leads in other comedies, including Bachelor Party (1984), Volunteers (1985), and The Money Pit (1986). He successfully mixed comedy with drama in Nothing in Common (1986) and Punchline (1988), and his portrayal of a boy in an adult body in Big (1988) earned him an Academy Award nomination and launched him on the path to becoming one of the era’s most popular stars.

Hanks earned further Oscar nominations for outstanding dramatic performances in Saving Private Ryan (1998), which was directed by Steven Spielberg, and Cast Away (2000). Additional dramatic roles came in Apollo 13 (1995), The Green Mile (1999), and Road to Perdition (2002). In the blockbuster Toy Story series (1995, 1999, 2010), Hanks provided the voice of the animated cowboy Woody.

In 2013 Hanks made his Broadway debut in Lucky Guy, a play by Ephron based on the life of journalist Mike McAlary, and he captured a Tony Award nomination for his starring performance as the colourful hard-nosed newsman. Later that year he returned to the big screen with Captain Phillips, a drama based on the true story of an American cargo ship hijacked by Somali pirates in 2009, and Saving Mr. Banks, a comedy based on the efforts of Walt Disney to obtain the film rights to P.L. Travers’s novel Mary Poppins (1934). Hanks then portrayed lawyer James B. Donovan, who defended (1957) Soviet spy Rudolf Abel and later orchestrated his 1962 release in exchange for American pilot Francis Gary Powers, in Steven Spielberg’s Cold War drama Bridge of Spies (2015). A Hologram for the King (2016), an adaptation of a novel by Dave Eggers, starred Hanks as a salesman who journeys to Saudi Arabia in an attempt to revive his fortunes. Also in 2016 he appeared as the title character in Sully, Clint Eastwood’s drama based on the true story of a commercial airline pilot who makes an emergency landing in the Hudson River.

In addition to his acting, Hanks wrote and directed the comedy That Thing You Do! (1996), about a fictional 1960s rock band. He later cowrote, directed, and starred opposite Julia Roberts in the romance Larry Crowne (2011), playing an unemployed man who enrolls in community college. Hanks also produced a number of films and such television miniseries as From the Earth to the Moon (1998), which documents the Apollo space program, and the World War II dramas Band of Brothers (2001) and The Pacific (2010). In 2009 he narrated Beyond All Boundaries, a documentary about World War II that used animation, archival footage, and sensory effects, including shaking seats; the 35-minute film was produced for the National World War II Museum in New Orleans.

Hanks was the recipient of numerous acting awards. In addition, he received a Kennedy Center Honor in 2014 and the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2016.

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(born 1956). American actor Tom Hanks often played an ordinary, decent man caught up in extraordinary circumstances. He became famous for his comedic roles in the 1980s and later began starring in dramas. In the latter category, Hanks received two Academy Awards for best actor for his work in the movies Philadelphia (1993) and Forrest Gump (1994).